Dodson/Brooks Debate on Scriptural silence

 
 
 Proposition: 
 The silence of the scriptures constitutes liberty for the New Testament church in its work, worship and service.

Affirm: Ray Brooks
Deny: Randy Dodson

First, although this is obvious, I would like to state for the 
record that this debate would be meaningless unless it is 
presumed that the scriptures are, in fact, in some sense, 
silent.  Both Randy and I agree that the scriptures are silent.  
How that silence is defined and what that silence permits are the 
point of this debate.

Here are the definitions I will be using for this debate:

"Silence of the scriptures"  means lack of instruction.  For the 
scriptures to be silent, we must have no instruction of any kind 
on a particular point.  I affirm that such is the meaning of 
silence, and will prove that the scriptures provide no 
instruction relevant to the topic at hand.

"constitutes liberty" means within a biblically moral context, 
the lack of instruction means we can do what seems best to us in 
our culture to accomplish the purpose of the church's task.

"New Testament church" is a phrase that means people gathering 
locally to worship Jesus Christ, teach His Word and serve their 
local community in works and service for the purpose of being a 
witness to the gospel.

"work, worship and service"  means the practical activities 
involved in worshiping God, His Son Jesus Christ, the Holy Spirit 
and ministering to both the lost and the saved in any context 
(the local assembly or daily life).

The question that needs to be answered is this:  do we really 
have the freedom, within a moral context, to employ any form of 
worship , work or service, in ministering to the lost or the 
saved?

Here are some passages that speak to our liberty.  I will start 
with them.

1 Cor 6:11-1411 And that is what some of you were. But you were 
washed, you were sanctified, you were justified in the name of 
the Lord Jesus Christ and by the Spirit of our God. 

12 "Everything is permissible for me"-but not everything is 
beneficial. "Everything is permissible for me"-but I will not be 
mastered by anything. 13 "Food for the stomach and the stomach 
for food"-but God will destroy them both. The body is not meant 
for sexual immorality, but for the Lord, and the Lord for the 
body. NIV

The context of this passage addresses judgment over lifestyle 
issues.  Paul's point is that as a believer, all activities are 
acceptable.  We are justified by Christ, so that actions are not 
the basis of our salvation.  However, not all activities are 
beneficial, nor are we to be slaves to any of our choices.  
Determining what is beneficial is the key to understanding our 
freedom in Christ, and therefore our liberty when facing the 
silence of the scriptures.  The following passages emphasize this 
point:

1 Cor 10:22-242 Are we trying to arouse the Lord's jealousy? Are 
we stronger than he? 

23 "Everything is permissible"-but not everything is beneficial. 
"Everything is permissible"-but not everything is constructive. 
24 Nobody should seek his own good, but the good of others. NIV

Here Paul uses the same argument again to stress that the point 
of all options is to build up (benefit, constructive).  By 
seeking the good of our brothers in fellowship, we build each up 
according to his needs.  We use whatever means are culturally 
understood and expedient to do this.  A far cry from the 
restrictive, legalistic useless hermeneutic endorsed by my 
opponent.  The core of the gospel is freedom, and part of that 
freedom is using whatever means necessary to reach a lost world, 
as Paul continues to explain here:

1 Cor 9:19-2319 Though I am free and belong to no man, I make 
myself a slave to everyone, to win as many as possible. 20 To the 
Jews I became like a Jew, to win the Jews. To those under the law 
I became like one under the law (though I myself am not under the 
law), so as to win those under the law. 21 To those not having 
the law I became like one not having the law (though I am not 
free from God's law but am under Christ's law), so as to win 
those not having the law. 22 To the weak I became weak, to win 
the weak. I have become all things to all men so that by all 
possible means I might save some. 23 I do all this for the sake 
of the gospel, that I may share in its blessings. NIV

Here Paul declares that he adapts his approach, his methods, his 
teaching style, even his living habits to reach the lost in any 
culture.  Paul changes any practice, and work, any service to 
make it something that the culture can relate to so that the 
gospel can be proclaimed clearly.  Paul believed in liberty.  He 
knew that the scriptures said nothing about what we could and 
could not do in our practices, and he used it freely in reaching 
the lost.

Paul uses every available tool, practice, work, service and 
method to teach the gospel in every culture, to every possible 
world view.  The silence of the scriptures means we are given NO 
INFORMATION, so that the culture we reach can provide the means 
of communication, the mode of worship, and the tools to share the 
Word of God.  Restricting the New Testament Church through 
silence robs believers of the privilege of invading another 
culture through their own means.  Liberty allows us to be true 
missionaries, and teach others to worship in ways they 
understand.

Rom 14:1-8Romans 14 

14:1 Accept him whose faith is weak, without passing judgment on 
disputable matters. 2 One man's faith allows him to eat 
everything, but another man, whose faith is weak, eats only 
vegetables. 3 The man who eats everything must not look down on 
him who does not, and the man who does not eat everything must 
not condemn the man who does, for God has accepted him. 4 Who are 
you to judge someone else's servant? To his own master he stands 
or falls. And he will stand, for the Lord is able to make him 
stand. 

5 One man considers one day more sacred than another; another man 
considers every day alike. Each one should be fully convinced in 
his own mind. 6 He who regards one day as special, does so to the 
Lord. He who eats meat, eats to the Lord, for he gives thanks to 
God; and he who abstains, does so to the Lord and gives thanks to 
God. 7 For none of us lives to himself alone and none of us dies 
to himself alone. 8 If we live, we live to the Lord; and if we 
die, we die to the Lord. So, whether we live or die, we belong to 
the Lord. NIV

This passage contrasts Jews and Gentiles with the practices from 
the Law of Moses.  Paul declares that each man is free to 
determine his own practices regarding lifestyle, and no man may 
judge another concerning these choices.  It is important to note 
that all of the practices are morally acceptable in themselves.  
Each thing we do, in a morally acceptable context, is valid if 
done unto the Lord.

It is critical to understand that no practice becomes immoral 
just by employing it for worship or service.  If  a practice is 
morally acceptable in and of itself, the question that remains is 
this:  is the activity one that will facilitate worship?  If one 
can sing a solo, dance to a song, speak in a tongue, or dramatize 
a scripture passage, does that facilitate worship?  Does it 
promote the truth of who Jesus is and what He has done?

The answer to all of these questions is yes.  Any dramatic method 
that can convey the moral and doctrinal truth of Jesus Christ 
would be a way of facilitating worship.  Thus, worship can 
include all of these things.  Culture and focus must be 
considered in making these decisions.  Paul did. Jesus did. The 
church will (if it wants to be effective).

These passages present a well-rounded foundation for 
understanding that the silence of the New Testament constitutes 
liberty.  The point of the New Covenant is to set us free from 
bondage to rules.  God is pleased by our faith in His own work, 
not humanistic faith that we can please Him by following rules.

There are three books that testify specifically to this point:  
Galatians, Romans and Hebrews.  In these three books, the author 
uses Habakkuk 2:4 to build his case.  This verse is found in all 
three books and forms the foundation of his case that we are free 
in Christ.  Our freedom stems from our righteousness being 
imputed to us by faith in the work of Jesus Christ.  God is no 
longer pleased by mindless obedience to rules to please a 
despot.  He is now pleased by faith in His Word.  That faith 
expresses itself through love, not law. Love and law are mutually 
exclusive motives, as Paul explains in Romans.  Only a proper 
understanding of our freedom in Christ allows the Christian to 
break free from the legalistic foolishness of a restrictive 
silence and engage a relationship with God based on  faith 
prompted by love.

Another excellent source of this principle may be found in the 
words of our Savior Himself.  Jesus spoke of freedom on many 
occasions.  One of the many occasions directly concerns our 
topic:  The woman at the well asks about where to worship.

Jesus told the woman "A time is coming and has now come, when you 
will worship neither on this mountain or in Jerusalem."  Is this 
a legal statement about where we must worship?  No! It is God's 
declaration through His Son that legal requirements will no 
longer be the issue.  Jesus defines worship as worship in "spirit 
and truth". Spirit here means supernatural worship, which 
Christians can do because of the Holy Spirit living in them.  
Truth means that worship declares the truth of Who God is and 
what He has done.  This distinction is important, because under 
the Law of Moses all worship was natural and merely pointed to 
something else.  Under the New Covenant, we worship God spirit to 
spirit, and the truth is the truth we actually declare in our 
worship.  It has nothing to do with regulations for methods of 
worship.

Jesus said "You believe the truth, and the truth will set you 
free."  Ok, free from what?  The context is trusting Jesus, the 
result is freedom from sin and freedom TO respond to God in 
faith.

Jesus said” Whoever the Son sets free, is free indeed".  The 
absolute sovereignty of our Lord in making us free.  In freedom 
we worship, serve, and work for His glory.  How we do it is up to 
us.

Ephesians 3:12 "In Him and through faith in Him we approach God 
with confidence and freedom".  Sounds like "approach God" has the 
only METHOD attached: faith in Christ.

Galatians 5:1 "It is for freedom that Christ has set us free;  
stand firm, and do not let yourselves be burdened again by a yoke 
of slavery."  Yes, indeed. The yoke of slavery is the set of 
rules by which we behave to please God.  It is removed, no Jew 
could do it, and no Christian can either.  We were set free from 
rules to walk in relationship to God.  We must take a stand for 
our freedom to serve our culture in the liberty of the gospel.  
We as believers should not allow ourselves to be burdened by the 
legalistic slavery promoted by the "restrictive silence" view of 
scriptures.  God intends our lives to be lived in the freedom 
that God gives us in the gospel.  In that freedom we worship, 
work and serve, blessing others and being blessed as His Spirit 
moves.  Specific rules on what to do in these areas have no place 
and no use.  They are a distraction from the purpose and vision 
of the church.

The nature of corporate or private worship is this:  The truth, 
from scripture, and from witnessing that truth in personal 
experience, is declared to God and to other believers.  This is 
the nature of worship in the Old Testament and New Testament 
both.  The New Testament adds one detail: the focus is now Jesus 
Christ and the truth concerning what He has done for us.  There 
are no legal requirements for how worship is done.  That was the 
nature of the Old Testament.  Under the New Testament, that curse 
has been lifted.  We worship by faith, not by law, as Romans, 
Galatians, and Hebrews all testify.

Our liberty is further justified by the fact that the New 
Testament contains NOT ONE SPECIFIC PENALTY for failure to 
measure up to the WRITTEN CODE for worship, works and service (as 
I call it, practices).  You can search your bible from Matthew to 
Revelation, and you will find no consequences listed ANYWHERE for 
not doing a certain practice a certain way.

Some people use the argument about not adding to or taking away 
from the scriptures.  This argument does not answer the 
consequences issue at all.  The issue in consequences requires 
specific responses to specific errors.  God never mentions one 
time in the New Testament that worship must be done a specific 
way.  The New Testament contains the New Covenant, which governs 
the practices of the church.  In it we find general information, 
but no specific commands on how to do anything in worship.  The 
authors assume the Jewish community already knows how to worship, 
and make no attempt to please Western American thinkers with a 
detailed list of what to do and not to do.  In other words, we 
are free in Christ to declare the truth of who He is and what He 
has done in our lives without fearing punishment because we 
didn't match a legalistic script invented by men.

I have shown that the scriptures provide liberty, that Paul used 
this liberty in proclaiming the gospel, that no specifics are 
given concerning how to worship, and that no consequences are 
specified for not following a legally prescribed method.  The New 
Testament operates by faith.  Our faith in the finished work of 
Christ gets us in the kingdom and keeps us there.  The silence of 
the scriptures has no authority to restrict us concerning the 
work, worship, and service of the church.  The Old Testament 
contained such laws, but it was a relationship based on obedience 
to law.  That is not the New Covenant's nature.  We are warned 
against making it into an Old Covenant type relationship in 
Romans, Galatians, and Hebrews.

My proof has been firmly established in the doctrine of Christ's 
covenant and the silence of the scriptures as a liberty has been 
shown to be a powerful, Christ honoring doctrine.  We are free to 
work, worship, and serve as the Holy Spirit leads and as the 
needs of the culture dictate.

Ray Brooks